How to get into Harvard

It’s Ivy League or bust for many high schoolers, but is the name-brand degree worth all the hype — and angst? PLUS tips on getting into the college of your dreams.

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AN IVY LEAGUE DEGREE. It’s the key to proud parents, power and prestige. A lifetime of happiness, success and second homes. Maybe even fame and fortune. Sound farfetched? Not to thousands of high schoolers frantic about what the future holds — and clamoring to get into the elite eight. n But is an Ivy degree a magic bullet? “No, not really,” says Bill Caskey, a college admissions consultant based in Barrington. According to executive research firm SpencerStuart, more than 90 percent of CEOs at the top 500 U.S. companies went to non-Ivy schools, and many are state college graduates. “It doesn’t really matter where you go,” says Caskey. “It matters more who you are.” Hard work, talent, discipline, passion all tip the balance. So when he tells this to his clients, both students and parents, do they heave a sigh of relief? “No, not really,” he says. “They still want it, just the same. They want that name-brand school.” n The eight schools in the Ivy League have long histories — Cornell, founded in 1865, is the youngest — and they have huge endowments: Harvard’s, at close to $30 billion, is the biggest. Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale round out the exclusive group. Costs at any one of them add up to about $180,000 for four years. Whether that investment will earn dividends over a lifetime is debatable. Some studies have shown that bright students will do well no matter where they go to school; others suggest a lifelong economic return from a prestigious degree.


Despite that uncertainty, Ivy League applications are increasing year to year, and admissions are becoming more competitive. A perfect storm of trends are converging to boost demand. The number of high school graduates has climbed in recent years and is projected to peak in 2008–09, with 3.2 million students earning diplomas. The percentage who goes on to college has been rising, to 66 percent of today’s grads. Also, students are applying to more schools, partly because it’s easier to do with online applications, partly to stack the deck in favor of winding up with options.

Meanwhile, the number of slots at the Ivy League has remained fairly static, allowing the schools to be incredibly selective. United States colleges accept, on average, about 70 percent of applicants, but Ivy League schools reject 85 percent. At Columbia, Harvard, Princeton and Yale, close to 90 percent of applicants are turned away. Last year, Harvard received a whopping 22,955 applications, and accepted just 2,058, or 9 percent, of them, the school’s lowest acceptance rate ever. A high class ranking and stellar SAT scores may seem impressive in a small high school pond, but amid oceans of Ivy League applicants, they’re simply the norm, and no guarantee of admission.

Louis Toro, director of guidance at Classical High School in Providence, says students already are thinking about college when they arrive for ninth grade. They pay for special courses to prep for the SATs, and take the tests again and again in an effort to boost scores. They pile on Advanced Placement classes, strive for good grades, excel in extracurricular activities, and volunteer in the community. Some families hire private consultants, like Caskey, to guide them through the complex application process.

College admissions officers sort through all those applications from outstanding students, athletes and artists, and make tough decisions. “They are not just looking for well-rounded individuals,” says Caskey, who formerly worked on the Brown admissions staff. “They’re trying to create a well-rounded class.”

At Harvard’s website, hopefuls are told there is “no formula” for gaining admission. Well-rounded is good, but so is “well-lopsided,” that is, demonstrated excellence in one particular endeavor — academic, extracurricular or otherwise. Students with fresh perspectives formed by unusual personal circumstances or experiences are valued. References and work experience are considered. “Like all colleges, we seek to admit the most interesting, able and diverse class possible,” says the site.

With so many high-achieving applicants to choose from, though, Toro says admissions decisions can come down to “splitting hairs.” And the whole process has become so expensive, so competitive, so stressful and complex that some students and parents — and even some of the colleges — are starting to question its merit.

Last year, Harvard’s interim President, Derek Bok, took a step toward simplification when he eliminated the college’s early-admission process. Many colleges accept applications from prospective candidates in the fall of their senior year, and offer an early decision if the student will commit to their school and withdraw other applications. The deadlines and requirements vary from school to school, and the complexities of the process ratchet up the stress level. Students must start in their junior year, or sooner, to master the ins and outs, seek expert advice, and be sure that they’re keeping up with the competition.


President Bok decreed that starting this fall, all Harvard hopefuls must meet a single admissions deadline of January 1. Early admission programs tend to give even more advantages to students who already have an edge, he says. Those from more sophisticated backgrounds and affluent high schools gain, while students from rural areas or high schools with fewer resources, or those who need to compare financial aid packages, miss out. The entire admissions process has become “too pressured, too complex and too vulnerable to public cynicism,” he adds. “We hope that doing away with early admission will improve the process and make it simpler and fairer.”

In a 2006 Harvard Gazette article, James Miller, dean of admission at Brown University, says Brown reviewed its early-admission procedure in light of Harvard’s announcement and the plan for now is to retain the current system. “This generation of students is very savvy,” he says. “They start looking several years earlier than we did a generation ago. They have access to lots of information, websites and guidebooks. They know where they want to go and why, very early on.”
Competition for “prestige” and rankings has also gone too far, in the view of some. In May, twelve university presidents signed a letter agreeing to withdraw from participation in the U.S. News & World Report popular annual “best colleges” issue. They argued that the rankings are misleading, attach too much importance to a school’s reputation, encourage wasteful spending as institutions compete for higher standing, and distract students from considering their real educational needs. By midsummer, another thirty-four schools had signed on. Not everyone agrees, however. To date, none of the Ivy presidents has put pen to paper in support of the ban.